SageVigiles

So companies were clearing from a small basement fire in Company 46's area (that's Kentland's second station, all career staff though.) Engine 838 notified Communications that they were gonna check out some smoke in the area. While they were on the way to check it out Communications dropped a box alarm for a building fire, and about 2 minutes later E838 arrived on scene, announced they were laying dual lines and that they had heavy fire from a 2-story commercial. Immediate second alarm. First Alarm: Engines: E828B, E838, E823, E829 Specials: TK809, TK838, RE833 Battalions: BO887, BO884 Ambulance: A826 Volunteer Chiefs: VC823, VC282B, VC837B, VC827A Working Fire Dispatch: Safety Officer 800, Volunteer Safety Officer Duty Officer 800 Paramedic Ambulance 846 Southern EMS Duty Officer Second Alarm: Engines: PE830B, E855, E812B, E817 (PE: Paramedic Engine) Specials: TL820, TK843, SQ827 Battalion Chiefs: BO884, BO883 Ambulance 812C Light/Air Unit 816 Water Supply 825 Volunteer Chiefs: VC828A Rehab 800 Canteen 801 Mobile Command Unit 800 Third Alarm: Engine: E845, E816, PE844, E811B Specials: TK821, TL839, SQ806 Battalion Chiefs: 887 Foam Engine 812 with E812 Other PGFD Units: Fire Chief Executive Officer to the Fire Chief (on board Eagle One as Air Recon Chief) Deputy Fire Chief Volunteer Services Commander PIO Fire Marshal's Office Other Agencies: PG OEM United States Park Police Aviation Unit (Eagle One) PGPD I'm sure I missed a few, but that's the best rundown I can come up with. We didn't do a damned thing but pick up 2300 feet of 5", but it was a pretty crazy scene. I'm not going to comment on other things that happened at this call other than to say I'm glad all the guys from 33 and 28 are going to be okay. Despite all the talk that's out there, I've actually run fires with 33 before and I have never had a problem with them.

Just because you CAN buy something with grant money, doesn't necessarily mean you should. Look at the disastrous Mass Decontamination Trailer CT purchased. One truck and trailer for every municipality with a hospital and an airport. Trailers kept breaking down, company that manufactured/maintained them went out of business. Now, 10 years later, the regional committees are purchasing inflatable decon tents for a fraction of the price. Sure they aren't as sexy looking as the big red trailers and spare rescue trucks "Prime Movers" that everyone got at first, but the tents are a much better use of taxpayer dollars. Of course there should be a (reasonable) cache of disaster equipment, but if we have trouble providing basic emergency services to the people we're supposed to serve, how are we going to perform in disaster conditions? Since the money is starting to dry up, people are starting to make wiser choices. But just after 9/11 it was basically a free-for-all and from what I saw in the emergency preparedness community in CT, there were a lot of projects that got funded in the name of the next catastrophe that will never be truly useful.

Connecticut actually set up their foam trailer deployment pretty well. One of the few smart purchases in terms of CT emergency preparedness. State of CT Regional Foam Trailer System

Date: 3/31/15 Time: Approximately 0345 Location: 3300 Gallows Rd, Inova Fairfax Hospital District: Fairfax County Police Mason District Units: Fairfax County Police: Patrol, K9, SWAT, Detectives, "Fairfax One" Aviation Unit Fairfax County Sheriffs Virginia State Police United States Park Police: "Eagle One" Aviation Unit Federal Bureau of Investigation United States Marshals Service Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives Fairfax County Fire Description: Bank robbery suspect overpowered an armed security officer at Inova Fairfax Hospital, was able to disarm the officer and escape. Inova Fairfax on lockdown and full diversion. SWAT searching the entire hospital campus and surrounding neighborhoods. Unconfirmed reports of shots fired but no reports of injuries ATT. Suspect is Wossen Assaye, 6'0, 170 lbs. BOLOs also out for suspect's girlfriend and vehicles she is known to operate. Large perimeter of roads shut down during the search. Fairfax County Police Twitter: Photo of Suspect I'm currently in my office 2 miles from the scene...

Thats cool, I guess. Any word on when they going to add "trucks that run for more than 3 weeks without breaking down" to their portfolio? Probably necessary disclaimer: I realize some departments have good success with E-One. I've just never been a member of any of those departments.

We are still talking about the State of New York, are we not? That's probably something we can all bank on.

Date: 3/26/2015 Time: Approximately 0545 Location: 6000 block of Dahlgren St (Cross of Ward St) Units: Cincinnati Fire, Cincinnati Police Description: Apartment fire was placed U/C as a 3rd Alarm after crews rescued several civilians. 4th Alarm with MAYDAY transmitted after a Firefighter fell down an open elevator shaft, becoming pinned between the car and the wall of the elevator shaft. Firefighter now extricated, ALS units to the lobby ASAP. Request PD to set up an escort. Praying for the best. Cincinnati Fire Live Audio

Rest in Peace FAO Daryl Gordon.

Lots of homeland security grant money drying up in the past few years. Not surprising that a company in that sector is having trouble staying afloat.

SP is always going to provide patrol services. Everyone in the state pays for that service so its not likely to go anywhere. I agree that this is probably all academic at this point, but maybe the Sheriff's "lukewarm" response to the idea is due to his concern/fear for the future of his department. Think about the possible implications for a Sheriff's Office if a County Police is formed, and again I stress this is ALL HYPOTHETICAL: 1. All field law enforcement operations become the County PD's responsibility. Sheriff's Office becomes responsible only for court security, county jail, and serving legal process. Hardly an exciting prospect for those working for the SO. 2. As in Westchester County, the County PD takes charge of almost everything and the Sheriff's Office becomes an Auxiliary unit. Also, if there is a County PD formed I'd be surprised if an elected politician is put in charge of it...

Date: 3/18/15 Time: Approximate 2015 Location: Queens Box 8561 - 91-21 90th St (bet. Atlantic Ave and 91st Ave) District: Units: First Alarm: E293, E285, E294, E236 TL142, L143, TL107 (Extra truck for reported entrapment) Batt. 39, Batt. 51 Squad 270 Rescue 4 DC13 RAC Medical Branch resources 2nd Alarm: E319, E286, E303 Batt. 28 (Firefighting) Batt. 44 Batt. 50 (Safety Coord) Rescue Batt. Safety Batt. E324 w/ Satelite 4 Field Comm Tactical Support 2 Command Tactical Unit 3rd Alarm: E305, E302, E298, E277 L126, L127 Batt. 46 (Staging) - Staging location will be at 89th St and Atlantic Ave Batt. 33 (Air Recon Chief) 4th Alarm: E332, E331, E290, E218 act. E215 E262 with IMO1 E263 (Communications Vehicle) L103, L170 Batt. 54 (Planning) Additional Units: Special Calls: L173, L151, L125 - S/C above the 3rd Batt. 58, Batt. 37 - S/C above the 4th L133, (L122 act 120), L155 (act .142) - S/C above the 4th Staff Officers (Probably missing a few): Car 1-Charlie - Commissioner’s Liaison/Officer In Charge - FD Operations Center Car 1-Frank - Commissioner's Liaison - Bureau of Health Services Car 4 - Chief of Operations Car 9 - Queens Borough Commander Car 11-Adam - Chief of Rescue Operations Car 12 - Chief of Safety Car 12-Adam - XO to the Chief of Safety Car 36-Henry - Chaplain Description: Originally reported as a kitchen fire in a private dwelling, upgraded with report of children trapped. DC13 has Command 2 10-45s (no code) on the 2nd floor DC13 transmitting the 4th Alarm, fire has extended to at least 5 buildings (sounds like a cockloft issue.) Special call 2 addl. Trucks above the 4th. Command reports all primaries negative in the original fire building. Both 10-45s are Code 4 (Green Tag.) 2105: DC13 requesting an additional 2 Chiefs above the 4th Alarm (Battalions 58 and 37 assigned). 7 L/S/O. 2110: Additional 10-45 Code 4. Duration is exactly 1 hour. 2121: DC13 reporting main body of fire knocked down. Fire's still Doubtful. Trucks opening up, still dealing with pockets of fire. 8 L/S/O. 2126: S/C an additional 3 Trucks above the 4th: L133, (L122 act 120), L155 (act .142) 2211: Total of five 10-45 Code 4's. Car 4 places this fire under control.

Date: 3/12/15 Time: Approximately 2315 PST Location: 742 S Ardmore Ave District: Fire Station 29 (Koreatown) Units: LA City Fire Department Chief Officers: DC22, BC1, BC11, BC18, BC5, BC9 Engines/Pumpers: E11, E13, E211, E226, E227, E26, E261, E27, E29, E52, E6 Trucks: T11, T26, T27, T29, T61 USARs: UR27, UR88 Rescue Ambulances: RA26, RA27, RA52, RA829 EMS Captains: EM1, EM11 Emergency Air Unit: EA1 Arson Investigation: AR1 Rehab Tender 59 Description: Working fire on the 2nd floor of a 2-story house. 1 occupant rescued by LAFD, being evaluated by RA units. Fire now in the attic space. Fire knocked down, Command releasing some companies.

Great article on the subject by Firefighter Close Calls. Firefighters First Due... With So Few

Congratulations Chief Dunn!

They did have reports of multiple people trapped, which might explain it. Honestly I'm not familiar enough with their operations. LAFD PIOs live tweeted the incident, they also have an email alerting system you can subscribe to if you are interested, we monitor it at work: https://twitter.com/lafd

If I am not mistaken, LAFD's "Task Forces" consist of a traditionally staffed Engine, a minimally staffed Pumper (for water supply), and a Truck responding all as one unit. So the number of "Engines" is likely skewed because some of those only have a Driver. But maybe Seth or one of the more frequent LA buffs can explain better than I can.

Date: 3/10/15 Time: Approx 2355 Location: Manhattan Box 1335 - Address of 1295 5th Ave (off E 110th St) Description: Manhattan Box 1335 - 1295 5th Ave (off E 110th St) - 10-77 transmitted for fire out the windows of the 17th floor of a 34-story apartment building, extending to the 18th floor. 2nd Alarm Transmitted - Division 3 has Command Car 6 (Manhattan Borough Commander) responding, reports he sees heavy fire still blowing out several windows while en route. Apartments 31C and 31F reporting they are trapped. 1219 - Car 1-David responding on the 2nd alarm. 1221 - ***3rd Alarm Transmitted*** Heavy Fire on the 17th Floor, numerous people trapped. No water on the fire. 3rd Alarm: E37, E44, E69, E60, E83 L23, L49 (Act. L26) BN53, BN17 (Staging), Safety BN

Sorry, I must have misheard. Correcting now. I didn't start listening until they dropped the 2nd so I missed the first 2 alarm rundowns. Thanks!

They have to follow OSHA's Fire Brigade standard, but that's a joke. State Statute does not require them to be NFPA certified, though most individual departments do (I can't think of any that don't require it, except in the instance when a department allows a member with out-of-state certification to join)

You sir, have nailed it. Everyone going home is not the only metric for success on the fireground. Unfortunately we've conditioned too many Chiefs/Officers to believe this is the case.

All dependent on the service your town expects from its fire department. You get some of these tiny towns out west in the middle of nowhere, where you get 2 guys in traffic vests and hard hats because the community contracts its "fire service" out to a couple of yokels in a wagon from 1950 that barely runs. Are most of our politicians/residents ignorant to the level of service their fire departments actually provide in comparison to what they're paying for it? Absolutely. But I'll bet the same happens for the police, DPW, and education services as well. All that being said, you're absolutely right. Its not a career/volunteer issue if you have a 100% union career department that only has 5 guys split between an Engine, Truck and Ambulance? Guess what, you can't handle a fire without mutual aid. If you have a volunteer department with 3 stations, 4 engines, 2 rescues, 2 ladder trucks, and 9 Chief cars, but you can only get 6 guys for a fire at noon on a Tuesday, 5 of which are old enough to collect social security? Same deal. I'm not sure if its reasonable for a town of 10,000 people to pay for enough staffing for a full NFPA-compliant response of 12-14 Firefighters for a residential structure fire. (Source) All the more reason to consolidate to one combination department. Less equipment, standardized training and SOPs, and you ensure that everyone in the area gets the same level of service for their dollar.

Date: 3/5/15 Time: Approximately 1640 Hours Location: IAO Gamestop - 2100 Lehigh St (Cross of 22nd St) District: 22nd District Units: Philadelphia Police Department, Philadelphia Fire Department Description: Unit reporting shots fired at 2 PPD Police Officers IAO Gamestop. 1 MOS shot in the head. Officer transported to Temple University Hospital via PPD radio car, listed in extremely critical condition. 22nd St closed to allow for escort detail. 2 suspects in custody, 1 transported to Einstein Hospital with GSWs, unknown condition. Prayers going out to the injured Officer.

Officer Robert Wilson III, Badge # 9990, has succumbed to his injuries at Temple University Hospital. RIP.

Yeah I think we're confusing "alarm assignments" with "pre-plans." Those are not the same thing.